Istighatha by Means of the Prophet During His Life

[Istighatha = Using Intermediaries And Intercessors]

Dr. GF Haddad

It is related that:

One night, the Prophet of Allah – may Allah bless him and grant him peace – was in his house and was heard to proclaim `I am here!’ three times and `You have been granted help’ also three times. Umm al- Mu’minin, Maymunah – may Allah be well pleased with her – asked the Prophet – may Allah bless him and grant him peace – whom he had been talking to since there was no one present. He – may Allah bless him and grant him peace – replied, `I was talking to a person called Rajiz from the tribe of Bani Ka’ab. He asked for help from me against the Quraysh.’ Umm al- Mu’minin, Maymunah – may Allah be well pleased with her – said that when she finished Fajr prayer the next morning, she heard Rajiz calling out in the streets of Madina: “Ya Rasul Allah! Help us and call the servants of Allah to help us.”

Shaykh Yusuf al-Nabhani, Allah have mercy on him, cites two hadiths in this respect with their full wording in the chapter of the Prophet’s `ilm al-ghayb in his encyclopedia of the Prophetic miracles, Hujjat Allah `ala al-Alamin bi-Mu`jizat Sayyid al-Mursalin (p. 493): <<Al-T.abarânî narrates that Maymûna the Mother of the believers said: “The Messenger of Allâh, upon him blessings and peace, was sleeping with me one night and he got up to make ablution and pray. I heard him say during his ablution in the dead of night:”Labbayka labbayka labbayka”  [like this,] three times  then:”nus.irta nus.irta nus.irta” [like this,] three times. When he came out, I asked him, “Messenger of Allâh, I heard you say, during your ablution, ‘In your service!’ three times, and ‘To your defense!’ three times, as if you were addressing someone. Was there someone with you?” He replied: “This was the poetry champion (râjiz) of the Banû Ka`b”  one of the sub-tribes of the Khuzâ`a  “invoking my aid (yastas.rikhunî)(1) and asserting that the Quraysh had helped the Banû Bakr against them.” The latter had allied themselves with the Quraysh the day of the H.udaybiya truce while the Khuzâ`a had allied themselves with the Prophet, upon him blessings and peace, and he became duty-bound to defend them. The support of the Quraysh for the Banû Bakr against the Khuzâ`a was therefore a violation of their truce with the Messenger of Allâh, upon him blessings and peace. This incident was the catalyst for the conquest of Makka and, immediately afterwards, he prepared himself to enter it and conquered it.(2) <<Ibn Ish.âq said  as found in Ibn Hishâm’s Sîra  that when the Banû Bakr and the Quraysh defeated the Khuzâ`a and looted them, violating the terms of the solemn pact to which they had agreed with the Messenger of Allâh, upon him blessings and peace, by warring with the Khuzâ`a, his formal allies, `Amr ibn Sâlim al-Khuzâ`î, one of the Banû Ka`b there, rode out until he came to see the Messenger of Allâh, upon him blessings and peace, in al-Madîna. His coming gave the impetus for the conquest of Makka.(3) He stood before the Prophet, upon him blessings and peace, as the latter sat in the Mosque, in full sight of the people, and declaimed: